Government-doctor conflict feared to drag on even longer
Yoon indicates intention not to back down from med school quota hike plan
No signs of a breakthrough in the prolonged confrontation between the Yoon Suk Yeol administration and doctors are in sight, leading to concerns that already serious disruptions in hospital operations could worsen further.
The health care standoff was caused since the government in February announced its plan to increase the number of medical school seats by 2,000 starting next year from the current 3,058, to improve public access to medical services. Doctors claimed such a drastic hike could compromise the quality of education.
Some raised cautious expectations that the two sides could move to find a breakthrough after the April 10 general elections, in which Yoon’s People Power Party won only 108 out of 300 seats in the National Assembly, but both sides are maintaining their original positions.
On Tuesday, Yoon indicated he had no intention to pull back from his efforts to reform the medical sector, including the medical school admission quota hike plan, which has caused thousands of trainee doctors across the country to walk off their jobs.
“I cannot stop structural reforms for this country. I will continue to press on with major reform plans,” Yoon said during a Cabinet meeting. “While pursuing labor, education, pension and medical reform initiatives, I will pay more attention to reasonable opinions.”
Yoon made the pledge in his first public remarks on the elections.
The ruling party’s election defeat prompted assessments that the Yoon administration had significantly lost momentum in pushing for the quota hike policy. However, Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong echoed similar sentiments during a government meeting later in the day, emphasizing the government’s commitment to maintaining the emergency medical system in response to doctors’ collective action, with the aim of protecting the people.
The health ministry also announced decisions to extend its financial assistance in operating the emergency medical system, which was initially set to end this month. This extension is seen as an apparent bid to prepare for a potentially prolonged standoff.
Just the day before, the minister emphasized that expanding the medical school admission quota and pursuing other reform initiatives are “prerequisites to reviving essential medical treatment fields, as well as services in underserved areas.”
However, doctors have remained firm in their position too, as they are calling on the government to withdraw the policy and go back to square one.
The doctors’ side stepped up its offensive, as 1,325 trainee doctors filed a complaint with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials against Second Vice Health Minister Park Minsoo, Monday, accusing him of abusing ministerial power and interfering with the exercising of their rights.
“We will not return to work unless the government fires Park,” Jung Guen-young, a former representative of trainee doctors at CHA University Bundang Medical Center, said during a press conference.
Kim Taek-woo who heads the emergency response committee of the Korean Medical Association — the biggest doctors’ coalition — also said in a recent briefing that “the only requirement of doctors is that the government go back to square one.”
Kim urged the government to immediately stop the ongoing process to allocate the 2,000 new slots to universities, mindful of concerns that the policy will be irreversible once universities announce guidelines for applicants for medical school entrance next month.
Amid the protracted conflicts, 10,445 medical students, or 55.6 percent of the total, have applied for a leave of absence, assisting in doctors’ collective action, though none of the applications have been accepted by their respective schools, according to the Ministry of Education.